ELIMINATED QUEENS Week 3 - RUPAUL'S DRAG RACE DOWN UNDER - Reality TV Contestants

It's in the news today, but it was actually on TV Reload.

The podcast last week mayby.

Welcome back to TV Reload. As you may know, my name is Benjamin Norris and this is your podcast to get all the inside goss all the popular TV shows you may be watching from around the world. Undeniably, our TV sets are a major part of our home entertainment, and yet very little is known about how our favorite

Yeah, it's been a lot of fun. It's been really nice.

Do you know what It's so bizarre that, you know, you've had this experience where your moment, which is like broken rup whole's sort of history, has happened a week ago, so you would have had a lot of people already interacting with you about that whole experience. Has that been strange?

It's been strange.

I mean I kind of knew that was going to happen, to be honest, like I was expecting it. I wasn't expecting it to be received so well. I thought people were just going to, like, you know, hate on it, but people seem to really enjoy it. So I'm very happy for the I'm happy for the love.

I'm feeling it.

I actually thought, when I watched it, are people going to debate as to whether or not the fainting was real?

And did they?

That's what I want to know.

Yeah, oh yeah.

A few people were like, oh my god, like this is such an attention grab blah blah blah blah blah. Anyway, I learned how to restrict comments and that patients online. I don't see that anymore. I deceive that love.

It's so bizarre, though, because like, if you watch that, maybe it's the edit of it, but there's no way that that was faked because the look on your face. It only happens for like maybe three seconds, but I've seen someone faint before, and that's exactly that look that comes over your face, and you can't faint that, you know.

No, And like I mean, obviously you can't see it on camera. But I was wrenched in sweat. I like woke up in like this big cold sweat, and that's why I asked to go outside because I needed to like get air.

Because I was drippen. I was strippen.

I can't remember what series of housewives it was. But there was a Housewives season where someone fainted, Oh, Lisa vander Pump, she fainted during Dancing with the Stars and it was so clearly faked that she got literally everyone coming for her. And I was like, yeah, but you clearly faked that. Where with this it was like it felt authentic to me.

So I imagine if I was like, nah, it was fake. I did it for TV. I got the screen time. Can you imagine can you.

Imagine if we're talking about it now in this podcast, but like, you know, now's the time to just reveal that, yeah, I'm an attention seeker and.

Yeah, and it worked.

I spoke to like a few different queens from different seasons from season one and season two, and all of them were like they'd heard about it, like through the Great Front because obviously this is the drag Race gazette or something, but yeah, all the feedback that had been given to them was that you know that this this moment had happened. And I guess that's the last thing you want when you're on RuPaul's drag Race is to have something like that happen.

I guess, of course.

And that's like another thing and when people are like, Oh, you faked it. I'm like, do you really think I would want to embarrass myself in front of RuPaul like that? Like the shear like horror on my face when I like look up and Rue is like staring at me, and I'm like, oh my god, what just happened?

Oh my god, get me out of this room. I can't be here.

But how long was it until they got you back? Like, as in, so did you have any like when Rue decided to open episode three with the lip sync? Like, how much time did you have to prepare for that? Oh?

It was the next morning. We like lip synced at like eight in the morning.

Oh yeah. Did you feel like coming back at that point? Did you go, oh, I'm going to get this or did you think that you were being brought back to finish that story off? Like how much did you think that that was going to be your final moment?

To be honest, On the day that I passed out, I did get to go to my hotel room early, and I was like in my fields a lot, and I was chatting with the show therapist and I was kind of like, honestly, I'm so embarrassed, Like I don't want to go back, like this is like ridiculous.

I just want to come home.

But she managed to like ask, She asked if I wanted to speak to someone for my season to kind of like see if that's really what I want to do, because you know, when someone's just done something that they're going to be a bit you know, skitzy. So I had someone come over in the evening and we chatted about it, and I was like, okay, you know what, like you're right, like, let me just go and do it.

And you know, if I go home, I go home. If I don't go home, then I don't go home.

You know, like at least I haven't had any regrets and I don't have any, like I don't you don't want to quit, but like I can understand when queens do quit because it is a lot going on. But I'm glad that I came back. I did it, and the rest is history.

I was talking to a few international queens as well about it who's seen it, and they were also saying everyone who's been on that show has had that split second thought of that could happen to them during their time on the show, that oh god, what happens if

Yeah, it's been a little bit here and there from some girls like sharing it on Twitter and stuff, being like this, I can absolutely understand this.

This is like very real, which is good.

It's kind of like not validating, but you know, it helps my cause to say that it was genuine to start with. But it also kind of like highlights you know, like it's a tough, tough competition, it's a tough, tough time, and you kind of have a bit more. I guess it puts into perspective to people that may not understand how intense it is to be there, and it kind of like elucidates that, you know, it brings it to light to people that like this is like really serious

I don't know how much do it mean to you to get on the show, Like.

Oh my god, like I was at a crossroads in my life, right. So I've been working at the bank for five six years almost, and I was kind of due to find a new career.

I'm not like crazy.

It's very hard to be a full time drag queen, and it's very hard to do it without an opportunity like Drag Grace to be a full time drag queen.

So I applied for the show with.

A bit of encouragement from one of the season two girls, and I got on and I was like, this is it. This is like the point of my life where I can take control and do things my way and what I want to do. And it was so important for me to like be there and you can see it in episode one, and I'm so emotional. It's because I've put so much like like this is what i want to do, this is my dream, and I'm like screwing it up right now, And you know, if you go

Out for reason. But yeah, do I answer your question? I can remember the question.

So you did. I don't know. I got lost in it as well, because I think you really do have an interesting story with this, and you know what I want to say to you though from what this show, but also for commenting on reality TV for as long as I have it isn't who wins the show that gets the big career. You know, there's people that have been on this show who've been in two episodes that

To answer that question. That was kind of a question, but I'm going to turn it into a question anyway. The story I want to tell is if you fall down, pick yourself back up. It's not the end of the world. If you really want to do this, just fucking do it. Give it your best shot, and you know you don't know what can come out of anything, so things cross it all goes well, I'm going to give it a

You just smissed out on the Housewives Challenge, and I was curious to ask you about that. You know, who's your favorite housewife in the housewife franchise? It sounds like I'm obsessed with thatx This is the second time I brought it up. But you know who is your favorite housewife and who would have been your inspiration?

Well?

I really enjoyed Real Housewives of Melbourne, So I watched that all a few times and actually on fact for the season two audition because I was just doing it.

Because it was lockdown and you know, you want to just do something in drag for the season two audition. I did Jackie.

Jackie Gillis, that's my Snatch Game character, so I definitely would have been her and the challenge, like you know when she's like I can see something with the angels and she just like yes, shine shy and shy and you just like flash everyone on the thing that I was so ready that.

Yeah, knowing Jackie as well as I do, she'll hit you up. She'll definitely slide into your d MS about that one.

Well, Jackie, I'll tell you this.

I nearly took you for a Snatch Game this year, and I know you have a deep pop and I was about to buy one of your dresses to wear for the Snatch game on Deep so like I was ready.

I was ready, My god, oh my god. That's amazing.

You know.

I want to ask you about the This is Ruphols down Under. So we're getting the Australian and we're getting the New Zealand Queens together. Do you notice or do you recognize the difference in the styles of drags between those two countries.

We're quite similar. I think it's a pretty common trend. I will say maybe, oh, I'm going to get in.

Trouble for this.

That's great, that's good for my podcast.

Okay, good, here's the use for you now. No, I will say maybe New Zealand drag is a little less polished typically than down on the Drag, But I also think that correlates to the amount that they get paid for their gigs, and like they don't get paid as much over there than they do in Sydney.

For instance.

So you can only invest as much as you make, right, Well, that's like the rule of some girls, don't fucking spend more than you make.

Did you hear about that last week? Those someone can't remember where you Obviously you might have Google alerts. I've got Google alerts on all of Rupoul's. But someone had spent two hundred and fifty thousand dollars on outfits before doing the American series. Did you read that?

Oh, I'm on Twitter babes as though it before it even broke out on Google. Yes, I did. I did read that, and I think that is insane. But they're going to look beautiful.

Do you know how much am I allowed to ask you about this without looking in your bank account? How much money you spent before doing the show?

I spent around eighteen thousand dollars.

Wow, I think you did such a great job on the show. And everyone that joins the podcast asked them this question, and that is what's something from behind the scenes, something that we didn't get a chance to see, something from may not necessarily to reveal how the show is made, but just a funny story about what it was like to be on ru Poles for you.

I actually have a fun story. I do have a fun story.

So on one of the first days of filming, we get transported from the hotel to set via like a minivan and usually like this a pa or like someone quite knew that's doing that sort of job. Anyway, So one day, instead of parking out the front like they normally did, they want to go into the garage of the hotel to park. And I don't know what had happened, but they had crashed the van into the roof of the hotel garage.

And then so all ten of us are there in this van, like, oh my god, what just happened? Added the funniest like, oh, sorry, girls, I think we might have hit something.

We were like glasses falling from the ceiling, Like I think you hit something.

But getting out of here.

So that's that was a funny moment that obviously was not going to be shown on camera.

Well, I'm pretty sure the rupol's got insurance, so yeah, it would have been coming.

Yeah, it's fine, it's covered.

Well.

Have a great time chatting with the media about this season, and I can't wait to watch what you do with this whole experience. I think there's there's a lot waiting for you, so just enjoy it.

Thank you very much. It was so nice chatting with you.

Interesting to unpack the fainting with Ivory. I really did appreciate her telling us about her journey with that. But now let's welcome Evana Drink into the podcast and guys, I hope you enjoy this second part of the chat. This is a podcast, but people really need to see how good you look right now, Like you look phenomenal.

Thank you say that again so everyone really gets the gist. I look phenomenal. I'll say it.

Buy the T shirt. It's the inspiration though for your look today. It's so good.

I'm really honest. I'm wearing sweetpants and this leotard is like a good thing to wear because I can pull the sweetpants above. It was just the easiest thing to wear.

Oh my god, you're so good. Can I just say it was so funny. I was watching this episode, but I turned to my partner and I was like, I am obsessed with this catwoman look. Thank you? Did you prepare that catwoman look before going into the competition? Like, how did you get that much latex together?

Well, I actually found a really fabulous latex designer based in LA And when I was preparing for the show. We obviously don't get given runways until a bit further along, but after you been cast, and so I really like to I plan ahead because we're in New Zealand and Australia,

It was so good, but also your performance, Like I don't know how much you know about the character, but I'm obsessed with Catwoman.

The thing I like the most about this particular outfit it was it was very conservative, but at the same time so sixy and so I really wanted to honor Michelle Fife as Catwoman were as opposed to like Ann half Away's or Halle Berry's, who are both great in the role. But you know, like it was just that particular vibe funnily enough, like I knew what I looked like in their outfit, and I really wanted to be as sixy as a possibly ki, But I moved like

People are going to think I'm so strange for saying this, but like I could see Batman, the animated series Catwoman, I could see Julie Numar, I could see all of these other Catwoman performances. So maybe I've read too far into it and maybe just laughed.

About what I actually like. I grew up watching those shows, you know, like the Batman, the Batman cartoon, and I always gravitated towards the female and the feminine characters.

I don't know why.

I mean, probably because I'm a big homo, but I just I just loved Like we would play Tick. I don't know if you ever played the game Tick, and I would always choose the female characters because they were my favorite, and I honestly, in my mind, they were the most powerful ones. Like if you wanted to beat someone up, you would go for like memal Christie, and I just like energy I love and you know I sit in it into you earlier that the best part

When you're doing the lip sync, though, did you have any idea as to who's going home? Because you know, we've obviously watched this show for an extraordinary long time, and you always think, do the queens know? Can they feel it in their bones? Who's going to stay and who's going to go?

No, you can't. And you know it's such a situation because you watch it at home and you go, oh, yeah, they're aware of what's going on around them, blah blah blah. Honestly, I can't tell you what that lip sync was like because I just blacked out. Like you know, when you go through trauma like a car crash or you break something, and you kind of forget the moments around that particular trauma. It's kind of like that, Like I was so in

I was doing it.

I was just doing it for myself. I think I looked at the cameras most of all. But no, I honestly can't take anything. I don't even know what Reader had done during netlip sync, or even what I did in the end as well, because it's just all a blur to me.

Do you just get the one shot like I always feel like you able to do it twice? Or do they do any pickups or anything, or it's just literally that thirty seconds or however long it is and you just got to Gopher broke.

It's like a minute and a half I think, or a minute something like that they do.

It feels like thirty seconds to me. It feels so stressful.

Honestly, it's like in the moment, it's the longest song you're ever do in your life. But then you watch listen to Oh this is actually so short, And I was so lucky to have like this, I know this song, so I was so happy that I didn't have to spend a lot of iff it trying to learn the lyrics.

It's so this is so bizarre, But like throughout the show, you were saying, I wish people could see me for this version of yourself that you didn't feel like you were presenting to the camera. I'm talking to you right now, and I'm seeing a very different person like I'm you are much more confident, Who're so engaging, You're so well spoken, so articulate. What happens to your mind when you put the pressure on yourself to be on a show as iconic as this.

I think that's what it was, you know, Like I went into the show knowing everyone knows who I'm married to, and she did well, she did well second season, but you know, that's that's just the way the cookie crumbles everyone and I knew how loved she was, and I felt there was a lot of pressure on me to to not compete, but you know, be on the same level.

Up so bizarre because like you know, just watching you today, like it's the version that you were talking about in that episode where you're like, I wish they could see this, and everyone agreed. You know, sometimes when you watch someone say something on reality TV, they're like, oh, I wish I was this because I'm that everyone looked at you. Everyone was like, yes, yes, you are that person. Why aren't you bringing this? What is going on exactly?

I was in that workroom every day, making everyone laugh, the cast and the crew and like having a laugh with everyone. Like when I left, there was a cameraman who saying Chaz and for some reason, he would always be around when I was getting undressed, and so we had this running joke that Chairs was a pervert and he just wanted to see me naked all the time. And I was like, oh, Chairs, when I'm gone, You're not going to be able to like to pervot anybody else now, and he was like oh, and it was sad.

I feel like, for me, you're a no brainer if there was an All Stars, because I feel like, if they do it, they're going to bring you with Anita, so we can watch that because we love we love reality TV, we love being a fly on the wall. But I just feel like, you know, we would love to watch the dynamics of a married couple being on the show and seeing how you both interact, if it's if it's toxic, if it's lovely, if it's you know.

Can you imagine stand original series behind the lashes I've.

I mean for it. You don't understand, I'm so do you don't how many questions I have for you about the whole thing. I'm like, I wondered whether or not you know you being in a relationship with Anita was a good or a bad thing for your story because you are your own person. I don't necessarily think my relationship defines me, so I don't necessarily believe that your relationship with Anita to finds you either, And I wondered how much of that impacted your time on the show.

You know, I think it was a no brainer for me, for me when I went to knowing that, you know, the fans love Anita and they love these types of storylines. You know, it's the drag the drag Race factors, first married couple to compete on a drag race franchise, and you know, I knew that there was going to be a lot of love and an interest in that because it's not it's not something you see every day. But at the end of the day, like we we're married

It's a hard dynamic. It's a really hard dynamic because I genuinely believe you are so strong and that you would have been picked to do the show without any connection to her whatsoever.

Yeah, I think so. I think I was. I was. You know, my audition video versions for the show was very much who I am today.

You know. It was.

It was lively, it was fun, it was energitic, and that's why Rue chose me.

You know, is there a formula though? That's what I want to know? Like it see, because you're married to somebody who got on the show, who successfully applied and got on, and then I think, you know that might have been the advice that Anita was able to give you. Is this is what you need to say, this is what you need to do to get on the show. Were you able to lean into some.

Of that, No, not necessarily, Like she did help me with the with the filming and process, and she kind of guided me on like different aspects of it, like you maybe have more energy here, maybe say this differently, maybe do that. But it wasn't like don't say this, you should say like this because then they'll want you on. It was definitely my audition tape. I would release it.

No, and that does happen though, like is in so much of your control gets taken away from you because the narrative of putting that whole show together sometimes means that we do seem to have a certain lick of the character that they're interested in putting forward. You know what I mean. I have so many questions. I literally could talk to you for all day, but I'm just going to go with some quick ones snatch game. Who was it going to be?

I'm not saying because I want to do it on All Stars.

Okay, so when you went home, who did you think was going to wear? Not what you know now, but like coming out at that point, who did you think was going to take the competition out?

I don't think we're about to answer this question.

I guess the best thing to ask you is my last question, which is that I ask everyone who joins the podcast, and that is what is something from behind the scenes that you can share with us, kind of like maybe a funny anecdote.

I has so many of these little things. I've got two. I'll give you two, okay, right, I love it. I actually have a scar on my nipple because of the mic peck burnt me and it was such a soft heat that it kind of just like was on all day and without move So I've got a scar right underneath it. Now you'll see in the second episode if you look at when I'm getting out of drag or yeah, I think out of drag, you'll see a plaster just below my nipple that's from that a bit of yi.

After that, so funny. If people don't talk about this, but you know, when you're miked up on a reality show, it's such a weird experience when you're not. I remember, like after Big Brother, for a good two weeks, I kept thinking that my mic pack was still on. Like I remember putting my seatbelt on in the cur and re arranged how I put the seatbot on because I thought I had a mic pack still on. And my partner was like, oh my god, you're so deranged after doing this.

Honestly, you could become such a thing, right, Like I literally would go up to him his name was Lars, and I'd be like that, and he would put it on for those of you listening, and my hands are up in the air. He would put it on and I'd be like cool, thank you, and then you do the shake shape shake, and then you need to count, and then it'd be like, yeah, we can hear and cough, and that would be it. It wouldn't even be like a

All Right, I'm gonna let you go, but I'm I'm just good luck with it all. I just think you're so fantastic. I'll be in your audience.

Thank you so much, nice to me. You've been